Virginia Giuffre Files Civil Lawsuit Against Ghislaine Maxwell

On September 21, 2015, Virginia Giuffre (then known as Virginia Roberts) filed a civil defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell in the Southern District of New York. The case, Giuffre v. Maxwell (15-cv-07433), alleged that Maxwell had defamed Giuffre by issuing public statements through her publicist calling Giuffre’s accounts of being trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell “obvious lies.”

The lawsuit served a dual purpose: it sought damages for defamation, and — through the civil discovery process — it compelled depositions, document production, and sworn testimony that created a comprehensive evidentiary record.

Discovery

The litigation generated extensive discovery:

• Epstein was deposed in 2010 (in earlier related proceedings) and invoked the Fifth Amendment hundreds of times
• Maxwell was deposed and her deposition transcript — initially sealed — became the subject of years of litigation over whether it should be made public
• Third parties were deposed and produced documents
• Declarations from Giuffre and other women named numerous individuals

The December 2014 Filing

Shortly before the September 2015 suit, in December 2014, Giuffre had filed a declaration as an exhibit in a CVRA case that named Prince Andrew. When this became public in January 2015, it triggered a global media response and massive public attention to the case.

Settlement

Giuffre v. Maxwell settled in May 2017 on confidential terms. However, the materials generated during litigation were placed under seal by protective orders — setting up the multi-year legal battle to unseal them, which ultimately produced the major document releases of 2021 and 2024.

The case is the foundation of the documentary record that makes public understanding of Epstein’s network possible.